Large-sized reservoir for liquids



Decf2f7, 1927. 1,654,016

' vR. L. sALMoN RGE SIZED RESERVOIR FOR LIQUIDS med Nov. 28. 1928 :s sheets-shet 1 Fly] 79.2

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I t /A/l/E/vT/ I 'Ren L1 60/1270/7.

R. L. sALMoN LARGE SIZED RESERVOIR FOR LIQUIDS Filed Nov. 233 926 s sneets-sneet 5 53./2

//V l/E N TUR f? er; .ZZ 'Sa/571W? aiented Dec. 27, 1927.

OFFICE.

REN L. SALMON, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

LARGE-SIZED RESERVOIR EDR LIQUIDS. I

- Application filed November 23, 1926. Serial No.,150,30`0, and in. France November 20, 1925.

This invention relatesto the construction of large-sized reservoirs for liquids and `chiefiy of containers for storing petroleum and other hydrocarbons.

The reservoirs now used for storing petroleumare generally built of steel plates and have a cylindrical shape. A metallic reservoir containino; 10,000 cubic' mters of fuel and the Shape of whichis the usual Shape of a vertical cylinder having a diameter of 30 metres and a height of 14-80 metres necessitates its sidcs being built of plates thev thickness of which vai'ies from 5 to 25 mm.. the mean thickness being thus 15 mm. This results in a great consumption of metal. Moreover the bottoin of a cylindricalreservoir of this kind is a large circular plate having a diameter of 30 mctcrs resting' on the ground so that its several parts cannot move easily relatively to one another when they expand under the action of variations of temperature. Further the lower surface of this bottom cannot be approached and therefore cannot be inspected nor kept in good order.

The object of the inv-ention described hereinafter is to provide an arrangement for reservoir-s which overcomes these disadvantages. According to the present invention, the reservoir comprises a number of supported ribs to which is secured a shell forming a series of small arches. The shell which receives directly the pressure of the liquid contained in the re'servoir,v transmitsl it to the ribs which in their turn transmit it ``to their supports. The shell can easily expand by 'reason of its arched shape.

In a preferred form, a reservoir of this type is placed inside a tubbing to the walls ofb which are secured the supports of the ri s.

Such reservoirscan be constructed either of metal plates or of reinforced concrete.

Advantageous embodiments are provided by disposing the ribs either along the generatrices of a horizontal cylinder or along the Sections' of such a cylinder perpendicular to the generatrices or along both directions so as to form a'sort of net work, with a metal shel'l the arches are preferably convex towards-the outside so as to provide vfor operatlon under tension.

Where the reservolr isl formed of reinforced concrctc the arches are on the contrary made preferably convex towards the inside with a view to under compression. v

The main advantages of such an arrangement are to allow free expansion in all divrections of all the parts of the rcscrvoir, to economize the material to he used, to facilitate the inspection of the inner and outer walls and lastly in the case where the reservoir is placed in a tubbing to prevent the liquid from being lost if the walls of the reservoir should break open. This latter arrangement will be necessarily employed with buried reservoirs such as the hydrocarbon rcservoirs established in view of war needs.

By way ofl'eXample four forms of construction of reservoirs are describcd hereinafter with reference to the drawings, in which:

` .Fgs. 1, 2 and 3 relate to a re-servoir of reinforced concrete disposed in tubbing, the

accompanying 'ribs of the reservoir being disposed along the generatrices of a horizontal circular cylinder. These Figs. 1, 2, and 3 are respectively a longitudinal cross-section, a trans- Verse cross-section and a plan view.

In a similar manner, Figs. 4, 5 and 6 relate to a reservoir of reinforced .concrete also,

disposed in a tub. the ribs of which are disposed along the surface of a horizontal cir-- cular cylinder perpendicularly to the generatrices thereof.

` Figs. 7 8 and 9, refer to a metal reservoir di-sposed in a tub hat ing ribs disposed'along the surface of a horizontal cylinder perpendicularly to the periphery thereof.

provide for operation Fig. 10' shows one of the supports of a rib.

'members 1' Two adjacent ribs 1, 1', 1"

and 2, 2', 2 are connected together by a continuous surface 10 the convexity of which is directed towards the inside so as to form an arch arranged for operation under compression under the action of the pressure of the liquid in the reservoir.

The reservoir thus formed has the general Shape of a cylinder with hollow longitudinal corrugatlons, the ends of which have a round Shape and which is open at its upper part. This reservoir is placed inside a tub provided in a base 11. In the severa'l planes of the ribs 1, 1' etc. are secured from place to place inside the tub supports 12 (Fig. 10) faced with a metal plate 13 bearing against a metal plate 14 secured to the outside of'the rib 1.

Each longitudinal rib is preferably Secured at its middle as at 15. The reservoir is' closed at itstop part in a fluid tight manner by means of a cover 16 formed of a Shell of thin steel plate which can be easily deformed and seeured at its edges to the Shell. connected to the ribs 1 and 1'. /It is supported by light and easily deformable girders such as 17.

The circular parts such as 1" placed at the ends of the ribs are provided with supports 18 resting on horizontal cradles 19 disposcd on tiers of the tub. The expansion of such a reservoir is effected in the following manner. The longitudinal ribs such as 1, 1' secured at their middle at 15 expand freely in their horizontal plane towards their extremities.

The circular parts such as 1 form semicircular horizontally arranged arches and as their extremities cannot diverge laterally this arch when expanding develops into a Slightly elliptical curve the major axis of which passes through the centre of the semicircul ar arch. It is easy to determine the Shape and size of these circular parts So as to 'prevent this elliptical deformation from Straining these parts in any region beyond the Safety point.

The Shell ofreinforced concrete provides for compression Strains, whereby it can be given a very small thickness. The arches in eachhorizontal tier expand in the followmg manner:

1. Longitudinally together with the ribs formed at either end; I

2. Transversely throu h a'modificationof the curvature of the arc es. These are lcalculated in a manner such that the variations of temperature do not make the concrete exted beyond the Safety oint where it would be drawn out and there y cracked.

The inlet, Outlet and blow-off piping is secured Jto the shellaccording to the usual methods.

The cover\16, by reason of its light weight can be easily. deformed without ceasing tobe' flui'd tight, so that it can follow without inconvenience the. deformations of the V aperture of the reservolr. This cover is provided with neu-1,018

a va'lve or with a device allowing air to enter and pass 'out of the reservoir.

Figures 4, 5 and 6 show a reservoir of reinforced concrete disposcd in a tub and provided with ribs such as 20 formed by parts of eonvexity of which is directed towards ,the

inside. The reservoir thus comprises a cylinder the top of which is open and which Shows hollow transverse corrugations. At each extremity, this cylinder is closed by an end formed for instance with a central circular part 25 and with a peripheral part 26 each of which is submitted to compression Stresses like the arches. The top of the cylindrical part is closedI by a cover 27 the edges of which are connected in an airtight manner to those of the reservoir, the cover being yielding enough to follow a'll the deformations of the Said reservoir.

The metal reservoir shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9 is constructed in a manner Similar to the reinforced concrete reservoir shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6: it comprises ribs such as 30 between which is disposed a Shell forming arches such as 31. Inorder to Set up streSSeS which ma b'e resisted by the material used, i. o. meta plates, the arches 31 have their convexity directed towards the outside so as to resist tensional stresses.y Under Such conditions, very thin plates can be used. For instance, if we consider the normal pres- Sures, which as hereinbefore mentioned in cylindrical reservoirs necessitate plates having a mean thickness of 15 mm., it is suflieient with thedmethod of construction de- Scribed with reference to Figs. 7` 8 and 9, to' use plates less than 5 mm. thick. At each extremity, this tubular reservoir is rovided with a Spherical part 32 reinforce by a horizontal semi-circle 33 resting on a series of supports 34 over which it can slide. The last transverse rib 35 bears along the whole of its periphery against a flange 36 disposcd in the tub so as to revent its moving when it expands longitu inally. When the ribs 30 expand each in its plane the last rib 35 is moved vertically whilst ex anding in its own plane. The parts whicii bear on the Supports34 thus move obliquely, the Supports 34 being given a corresponding inclination.

The reservoir shown on Figs. 11, 12, 13 comprises a systeml of parallel ribs similar to that shown in the reservoirs described llll) hereinabove, which system is completed by a second system of parallel ribs perpendicular thereto.

The spacingr of the ribs in the second system is preferably equal to that of the ribs in the first system. The net-Work formed by the two systems (livides the Shell into a number of squares in each of which the shell appears as a spherical surface which is either concave or convex as explained hereinabove.

Such a spherieal surface bounded by the sides of a square allows the metal to be subniitted to stresses which under the same con- (litions are half those it would be submitted to in a cylindrical arched surface of same curvaturc and spanning the same distance i. e. the distance between two opposite sides of the square. Tu a reservoir of the type shown, the strain of the metal is therefore much smaller than in a reservoir of one of the two above described types.

The metal expands freely by reason of the deformation of the spherical surface which becomes ellipsoidal.

The joining' surfaces between the adjacent spherical surfaces are Curved in a directiorr liquid the extension due to the expansion may eompensate the shortening due to the compression caused by the Stress exerted on the metal vor else the sheets may rise above the Corners of the squares.

(b) The network of masonry ribs is provided only alon `a short length of the sides of the squares eginning atwtheir intersections. On these elements of masonry is set a frame of strong stamped sheets showing exactly the shape of vthe surfacesjoining the spherical surfaces. The sheets constituting the walls of the reservoir are then set over the frame. In this case the ex ansion due to variations of temperature produces an extension of the sheets of the frame the curvature of which varies at the sainevtime as the sheets themselves expand.

The secondary stresses developed in the Sheet-s when the spherical'surfaces arede- -formed and become ellipsoidal do not produce* any dangerous stress in the metal; as on the other hand the outer frame of the first described reservoirs is rather costly, therefore it is of interest to use the last mentioned arrangement.

Figs. 11 2to 13 show the two perpiendicular equally spaced systems of ribs 37, 38. These` ribs are borne by a network of concrete ribs` 39, resting on a base 41. Between thet` ribs the sheets appear as stamped sheets havy ing the shape of spherical surfaces 42.

The several arrangements disclosedA hereinabove, especially the last provide reservoirs submitted to important pressures and constituted by comparatjively thin sheets submitted to very small strains. They are adapted vto be electrically Welded Whereby the necessty of riveting is removed and the fluid tightness Aof the reservoirs is increased.

. What I claim is: J A reservoir for liquids comprising two perpendicula-r systems of ribs adapted to expand freely and a shell composed of elements having the shape of spherical surfaces and disposed inside each square formed by the intersection of the ribs.

In testimony- Whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

REN L. sALMoN. 

